Happy Saka Dawa! The full moon day of Saka Dawa commemorates Lord Buddha's birth, enlightenment, and parinirvana. As cited by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in the Vinaya text Treasure of Quotations and Logic, virtuous actions done on this day are multiplied one hundred million times.

The next merit multiplying day is Feb 13 2009, the day before Losar. This is the New Moon and is therefore a Shakyamuni Buddha Day. Merit is said to be multiplied 100 times.

Then begining the next day, 14 Feb, we have a month of merit multiplying days during the first month of new lunar year. Merit is said to be multiplied 100,000 times. There is also Chotrul Duchen during that period (16th day of the first lunar month - so about March 2nd) and merit for this day is said to be multiplied 10,000,000 times. This day is the butter lamp festival. The first 15 days of the month were days on which Lord Buddha performed different miracles according to the Tibetan tradition (don't know if there is a sutric reference for this).

Devotee wrote:Just a question: are there differences between northern and southern hemisphere, or time zones?

No although there are actual times for the start and end of days based on Tibetan astrology that do not coincide with the Western calendar. And there are actual time differences that might cause problems if you want to practice at the exact same time as someone else on the planet (for example right now is 3:14 pm 1 Feb in DC and in New Dehli it's 1:44 am 2 Feb).

Just a question: are there differences between northern and southern hemisphere, or time zones?

Oh yes. In the Southern Hemisphere, all karma is inverted so all practices lead directly to the hell realms. If you are located in the Southern Hemisphere, move immediately!

Or if you want to do bad things but be rewarded for them, move to the south!

Honestly, this made my day

Seriously though...

Kirtu, I did research, found the FPMT website. It says 100 million times, for New and Full Moons...

Why is there a difference between traditions?Also... If reciting certain mantras or sutras can bring infinitely massive amount of merits, how come there are days not suitable for prayer flags, and other religious activities?

This is all very interesting and fascinating to me. I'm familiar with the Chinese calendar, but not the Tibetan one...

Devotee wrote:Kirtu, I did research, found the FPMT website. It says 100 million times, for New and Full Moons...

Why is there a difference between traditions?

I'm not sure there is as the traditions are practically the same with respect to sutra and much of tantra. Apparently the merit multiplying days come from sutra and perhaps different sutras say different things about the multiplication.

There is no reference to merit multiplication in the Pal Sakya calendar booklet for the coming year although all the days are listed. Jeff Watt's Sakya Resource Guide calendar page lists the new moon and full moon (the 15th and 30th day in the lunar calendar) as 100-fold merit multiplying days and references the Kshitigarbha Sutra (all the merit multiplication listed there refrences the Kshitigarbha Sutra - however I can't find the reference in the sutra so I will ask my lama although I have read other references to merit multiplying days in other sutras).

In posting online I have almost always listed special days and merit multiplication from Buz Overbeck's excellent Tibetan eCalendar application which lists all the major special days and inauspicious flag raising days, etc. However he does not list the 14th, 23rd or the 29th day of the lunar calendar as special (the Sakya sources do).

Also... If reciting certain mantras or sutras can bring infinitely massive amount of merits, how come there are days not suitable for prayer flags, and other religious activities?

I don't know. I have been told that prayer flag hanging is from Bon so perhaps the unfavorable days comes from that (however I'll bet that we can find a sutric reference to prayer flags or perhaps we can find it from India after 600 AD).

This is all very interesting and fascinating to me. I'm familiar with the Chinese calendar, but not the Tibetan one...

Both the Chinese and Tibetan calendar are lunar-solar calendars and are mostly the same. However I don't know if there are astrological differences between the two calendars.

Well, for the Chinese calendar, certain festivals/deities are incompatible with certain Zodiacs. Unlucky zodiacs are adviced to stay away from certain deities (this is totally compatible with Taoist cosmology where everything is based on duality, etc).

In Chinese Buddhsim, we are taught that certain holy days are more in touch with the Heavenly and Spirit realms, and that these Spiritual beings can be of help to the cultivator if he does good deeds during these days (Buddha Birthdays, full and new moon, etc). It's the "merit multiply" aspect of Tibetan Buddhism that seems very new to me.

Although--and I say this again--it strikes me odd that religious ceremonies are said to be plagued with obstacles and bad luck on certain days. From what I know, all sutras, mantras and good deeds DISPEL bad karma, not create them. Could someone please clarify this?

Would it be stepping on too many toes if I ask; Where did the idea of merit multiplying days originate?

I mean if a lifetime is something like 20,000 or 30,000 days, and merit is multiplied by 100,000,000 , then it seems that one could accumulate the equivalent of 3000 lifetimes' worth of merit by putting in a normal amount of practice on the right day.There should be Buddhas popping up like mushrooms!

catmoon wrote:Would it be stepping on too many toes if I ask; Where did the idea of merit multiplying days originate?

I mean if a lifetime is something like 20,000 or 30,000 days, and merit is multiplied by 100,000,000 , then it seems that one could accumulate the equivalent of 3000 lifetimes' worth of merit by putting in a normal amount of practice on the right day.There should be Buddhas popping up like mushrooms!

We have accumulated negativity for uncountable lifetimes. And we frequently diminish our current store of merit through negative actions (like anger for example).

Also, while I don't think this is a literal teaching, I personally have found serious practice on merit multiplying days to be efficacious in reducing my negativities.

Today (Feb 24) is the 10th day of the Tibetan month, which is traditionally dedicated to Guru Rinpoche. You can do tsog, if you know how, or you can just do the seven-line prayer "o gyan yul gyi nup chang tsham", etc. which I believe has been posted elsewhere in these forums.

(Apologies to those of you in earlier time zones ... if people are interested in Tibetan calendar days, I will try to be a little more proactive.)

Is everyone here more or less familiar with the Tibetan calendar, the lunar month and how it all works?